


Each and Every Mihashi

by freewritingseer



Category: Ookiku Furikabutte | Big Windup!
Genre: Emotions, Gen, Needs Possible Revision, Old work, Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2015-03-21
Packaged: 2018-03-14 09:07:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 15,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3405059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/freewritingseer/pseuds/freewritingseer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Mihashi's basic emotions and personality traits get smacked right out of his head and onto the streets of Saitama, it's up to the rest of the Nishiura team to gather the pieces and put their friend back together. But it seems to be a lot harder than it sounds. [AbeMiha]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on FF.net

“C’mon! Just one more out to go!” Tajima exclaimed from his place at third. “We can win this, Mihashi!!” The blonde on the mound flinched when his name was called, and he smiled when he looked over to his hyperactive friend. _Yeah, we can win this!_

It was the bottom of the ninth, two outs with a runner on second base, and the Nishiura team was leading five to three. Their opponents’ cleanup hitter was at bat, currently with a 1-1 count, and Abe’s heart raced with the end of the game a mere few minutes away. Mihashi was pitching perfectly, and the catcher anticipated a solid victory.

However, even the calculating Abe Takaya couldn’t predict what happened when Mihashi threw a fastball for a second strike.

The cleanup made solid contact with the ball, but the angle in which the ball flew was not one the team expected. Straight towards Mihashi it sped, and with great force it made contact right smack onto the pitcher's head, as he only had less than a second to try to dodge. As the force knocked him back, in a flash of bright light, it sent a series of bright colors flying out of Mihashi’s head, which was a strange sight in and of itself. The light blinded both players and spectators for a moment before everyone’s vision cleared. The cleanup hitter was already running to first base, and as Abe looked to Mihashi, time seemed to slow down.

The pitch that had been launched into the air after striking the pitcher’s head came down into Mihashi’s glove, and the blonde, acting as if the hit to the head didn’t even affect him, quickly threw to first without hesitation. The cleanup was out before he stepped onto the base for the last out of the game, and the team celebrated with the realization that they had won. But as they began to cheer, Mihashi fell to the ground, unconscious as he should have been the moment the ball bounced off his head.

A rush of panic immediately filled the field as his teammates ran to him to see if he was okay. A blow to the head like that was sure to have done some damage. Though none of the Nishiura players anticipated the kind of ‘damage’ it had dealt to their pitcher.

Mihashi was taken directly to the hospital from the field, since it was mandatory to make sure that he hadn’t suffered any internal bleeding in his skull; and once that was cleared, tests had to be done to make sure no other damage was dealt onto the pitcher’s brain. The results that came out were normal, much to the team’s relief, but they could tell that something wasn’t right with Mihashi from the moment he woke up. There was little to no emotion or expression on the pitcher’s face, and he barely responded to his teammates when they spoke to him. When told about the flashing light when the ball hit his head, the doctor was dumbfounded.

"Even the concept of some sort of light appearing on contact seems ridiculous." he said. "However, I understand your concern; I’ve never seen anything like this either. But there's nothing I can really diagnose.”

“A diagnosis isn’t needed, doctor; his head is just empty.” A voice came from behind the team that stood in Mihashi’s hospital room. “And an empty head needs to be filled, don’t you agree?” Behind the group stood Mihashi of all people, but not only was he in different clothes, he smiled when the team looked at him. “And I think I can help you with that. I’m Responsible, after all.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Who the hell…?” Abe muttered.

“Like I said, I’m Responsible.” The second Mihashi said. “As in, I am the physical form of Mihashi’s sense of Responsibility. I’m pretty much in charge of everyone else, so I think I can shed some good light on this situation.”

“Wait, I think I get it." Nishihiro spoke up. “When Mihashi was hit on the head, his emotions and personality traits were somehow pushed out with that light. And now... they've taken a physical form?" Responsible nodded.

“That's right," he said, "we behave according to what we represent. There are of us eighteen total; you guys are lucky only us mains tumbled out. And with me here that means you only have seventeen to find.” He paused. “Err, more like sixteen, since one won’t show himself until the others have all been gathered, but that’s to be handled later.”

"Wait, what do you mean  _we_ only have seventeen to find?" Mizutani said. 

"Well," Responsible answered, "as the Responsible one, both figuratively and literally, I know where they all are, but I can’t gather them all on my own. So that’s where you guys would come in, since I figured you'd be up to helping.”

"'Course we will!" Tajima exclaimed, elbowing Mizutani in the side. "Who do we gotta find?"

“We are as follows,” Responsible counted on his fingers, “Happiness, Sadness, Anger, Mischief, Nervousness, Fear, Recklessness, Determination, Tiredness, Hunger, Lust, Evil, Love, Hate, Maturity, Innocence, myself Responsibility and the final who will come later. I’ll take care of rounding up the ones who are harder to handle, namely Lust, Reckless and Evil, while you guys round up the others.”

“So where do we even start then?” Izumi asked. “They could be anywhere.”

“The easiest place to go first would be Mihashi’s house.” Responsible said, turning to leave. “I have Mihashi’s cellphone on me, so give me a ring with your findings.”

Once he was gone, Abe turned to the doctor.

“We’ll try to round them up as quickly as possible.” He said. “We’ll keep Mihashi here until we do, and hopefully we can get him fixed.” The doctor nodded and the Nishiura team went on their way. Mihashi’s house was their first stop.

The team rode their bikes from the hospital to Mihashi’s large house, finding a third Mihashi at the front door waiting for them. The third said nothing, but led them inside. He motioned over to the living room, where a fourth Mihashi was half-laying on the coffee table, coloring with crayons. When the team looked over, the fourth waved before humming to himself and continuing his coloring. The third Mihashi then led the team upstairs.

“…So who was that downstairs?” Sakaeguchi asked.

“Innocence,” the third Mihashi finally spoke, “easy to handle.” He put a finger to his lips as he came to Mihashi’s bedroom door. Opening it, he pointed over to the bed where a peacefully sleeping Mihashi lay. “Tiredness, easy to handle.” He closed the door and pointed across the hall to another room. “Fear. He’s hostile to anyone who gets close, so don’t disturb him.”

“And you are?” Nishihiro whispered.

“I am Maturity.” The third Mihashi said. “I’ll be in charge of the parts of Mihashi you find and return here.”

“Do you have any tips for us in regards to the others?” Abe asked. Maturity tapped his chin for a moment before nodding. He led them back downstairs to the living room before speaking.

“With the exception of Responsible,” he said, “we can be placed in pairs or groups of three. For groups of three, there is one member that controls the other two, and those are Sadness, Hate and Love. Find any of those three and their subordinates will follow promptly. Happiness, Sadness and Anger always remain in close proximity to one another, so if you find one, the other two should be close by. Honestly they should be the easiest to find, with Hunger and Nervousness being hardest because they’re wanderers. That’s about as much as I can tell you for the moment. Responsible is being picky about what I relay to you.”

“But as ‘Maturity’, don’t you have a little more authority over ‘Responsibility’?” Oki asked.

“It’s complicated.” Maturity answered. “But I’m sure it’ll all be explained in due time.”

“So do you have any suggestions as to where we should start looking?” Suyama asked.

“Try the school’s baseball field.” Maturity said. “The one you find there will probably be willing to play bloodhound to find the others.”

“Which one’s at the field?” Sakaeguchi asked, and Maturity zipped his mouth shut. Abe scowled at the amount of information, or lack thereof, Maturity was giving them, but took a moment to take out his phone. Responsibility recommended they call him, so it was possible he might give them some hints himself.

After dialing Mihashi’s number and hearing it ring, Responsibility answered. Though the only way Abe knew it was Responsibility was because the personality announced himself as such when he answered. All these Mihashis sounded the same.

“We’ve got Maturity, Innocence, Fear and Tired here at the house.” Abe said. “And Maturity has directed us to the school field for another. Is there anything else you’d like to add to that?”

“Oh, that sure was fast.” Responsible commented. “Hmm, let’s see… I know you’ll find a lot of them out in town. If anything, carry a picture of Mihashi around and ask if anyone’s seen him. A few of the others tend to leave trails in their wake. So just keep your eyes open and _be careful_. Mihashi as a whole might be harmless, but parts of him like Mischief and Anger can be pretty _dangerous_ if mishandled.”


	3. Chapter 3

While Abe doubted that any part of Mihashi could really be dangerous, he understood that the Mihashis they were looking for weren’t the same pitcher he knew. They were personified emotion and were nothing but that emotion, which could cause even the docile Mihashi to become a threat. Anger was one that Abe had the feeling would be one of the ones they’d have trouble with. But then again, Maturity said that Sadness, Hate and Love controlled others under them, and that Sadness, Anger and Happiness stayed within range of one another. If that turned out to be true, and if they had trouble with Anger, they would just find Sadness close by to keep him in check. But Abe had to wonder, how would Sadness tame Anger? If anything he thought that Sadness would be afraid of Anger.

However, it could just be that emotions are different for each person.

“Alright, we’ll head out to the field now.” Abe said once he hung up with Responsible. “Maturity, just keep these guys in check for us while we’re gone, and hopefully we can all get this over with by tonight.” Maturity nodded and the Nishiura team returned to their bikes.

“So did Responsible say anything important, Abe?” Sakaeguchi asked. Abe nodded.

“We’ll find a lot of them out in town.” The catcher said. “And they tend to leave trails leading right to them, so if we use a picture of Mihashi, we should catch them pretty easily.” Abe didn’t want to mention the fact that some of them could be pretty dangerous, since he didn’t want to freak out the rest of the team; however he figured he’d mention it when the time allowed for it.

Once the group reached the field, they found the next Mihashi on the mound and throwing pitches to Coach Momoe. They parked their bikes outside the gate and got Momoe’s attention. They’d need to explain the situation to her.

Since the next Mihashi expressed a desire to keep throwing pitches, Abe got his gear on to keep him distracted while the team explained what happened. And once she was properly informed, Abe stood from his place at home and approached the Mihashi on the mound.

“So which one are you?” he asked. This Mihashi bounced excitedly in place with a smile.

“I’m Determined!” he beamed. “Can I pitch some more?”

“You’ve pitched plenty today.” Abe said. “But we could use your help.”

“Sure!” Determined said. “I’ll help!”

“Do you have any idea where the others are?” Abe asked. Determined tapped his mitt on his chin in thought before shrugging.

“I have a general sense that tells me when one is close by.” He answered. “But I can never tell who it is or where exactly. But I’ll help look for them if you want me to!”

“It’d be a great help if you would.” Abe nodded. “We’d rather not waste any time getting Mihashi back to his old self.”

“No problem!” Determined exclaimed. “Can we start right now? I can start right now! I know there someone off that way!” Determined pointed off towards the school with his mitt.

“In the school? That can’t be good.” Abe said to himself. “Alright, let’s get inside and see who it is.” So Abe told the rest of the team where Determined had pointed, and they headed off ahead of him while he got his gear off. Determined stayed behind with Abe so they could go in together.

However, when they headed towards the school, they found Tajima running back to them.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Abe asked.

“Well, in short,” Tajima gasped from sprinting, “this guy’s gonna be a handful.”

“What was he doing?” Determined asked.

“Spray painting the outside of the school.” Tajima said. “And worst part is, he’s a fast runner.”

“Can you tell who that one is—” Abe started to ask Determined before the personality starting running towards the school.

“I’m gonna get Mischief, I’m gonna get Mischief!” he sang as he ran along, and Tajima and Abe promptly followed.

“The others are trying to corner him, but he’s way too fast!” Tajima explained. The two players noticed Determined was out of their line of sight almost instantly, and Abe grinned.

“Looks like he’s not the only fast one.” He said. “Let’s see how this turns out.”

When the two made it to the school, they found the rest of the team out front and on the ground, gasping for air. They all started getting up when they spotted Tajima and Abe.

“You guys couldn’t catch him?” Tajima asked. Sakaeguchi shook his head.

“He seems to know… where we’re going to be… before we’re there!” he said between pants.

“Well hopefully Determined can at least pin him down for a second.” Abe said, before hearing loud laughter coming from inside the school. “Come on!”

Picking themselves off the ground, the team ran inside to find one Mihashi, who Abe could tell was Determined, on top of the other, tickling him furiously.  When Determined noticed them coming, he grinned and kept up the tickling.

“I got him!” he said, before looking down at the mischievous personality. “Now cry uncle if you want me to let up and actually let you breathe! And you gotta promise to behave or else I’ll get Maturity on your ass!”

“U-Uncle! Uncle!!” Mischief cried between howls of laughter. “I can’t—hahaha!!—I can’t breathe!!”

“Success!” Determined beamed. “Now let’s toss him into the slammer and move on to the next one!”

“W-Wait a sec, slammer?” Mischief’s face instantly went pale, but Determined only laughed.

“I meant back home!” he said. “And Maturity’s gonna put you through the ringer!”

“Nooo!” Mischief exclaimed, flailing about underneath the other personality trait. “C’mon man, I was only joking around!!”

“I know, I know,” Determined said, “but it’s Maturity who’s gonna decide whether or not you gotta be punished for all the trouble you caused everyone. Got it?”

“Got it.” Mischief hung his head in defeat as Determined stood him up and led him out of the school like an officer leading away a convict.

“Hey, hold on a sec.” Abe stopped them. “Mischief, do you have any idea where any of the others are?”

“Or any hints about handling them?” Hanai added.

“Hmm…” Mischief tapped his chin. “Hate is physically one of the strongest of us, with Fear being the strongest of all. If you’re gonna pin him down, you gotta either catch Evil or find someone who can take Hate down in a fight. He’s a bit of a loner too, so it’ll be hard to find him if he’s not leaving a trail of carnage in his wake.” Mischief grinned before Abe allowed Determined to drag him off back to Mihashi’s house.

“So Hate’s gonna be a problem…” he muttered. “Hopefully Responsible will be able to catch Evil so it won’t be so hard for us.”

“Are we just gonna wait here until Determined gets back?” Sakaeguchi asked, to which Abe nodded. “Then we should probably get to cleaning up the mess Mischief left.”

“Oh right, the graffiti!” Suyama said. “We managed to scare him off before he could do a lot of damage, so it might not take that long to clean up.”

“I don’t think we can just wash off spray paint.” Oki said. “We’ll need white paint to cover it up before someone sees it.”

“Was it profanity or something?” Abe asked.

“Nah, it was just like ‘Mischief was here’ on the school wall.” Tajima answered. “He didn’t get far in writing it, but where will we find white paint?”

“Let’s go check the art room, maybe there’s some we can use.” Hanai suggested.

The team agreed and began their search for any white paint in the school. If they ended up getting in trouble for using it, they’d just buy the art room some more.

By the time the team finished covering up Mischief’s minimal graffiti, they noticed that it had been about an hour since Determined left to deposit Mischief back to Mihashi’s house. Figuring that it’d should be impossible for a part of Mihashi to actually get lost on the way to his house, they decided to head back just to make sure they got there safely. Thankfully though, the group found Determined waiting for them at the school gate with a large paper bag in hand.

“Where have you been?” Abe asked immediately. Determined didn’t seem fazed, and smiled before handing him the bag full of snacks. “Where did you get these?!”

“Okay, while you guys were here cleaning up Mischief’s mess,” Determined explained, “I was escorting him back to the house, see? Well as it were, before we got there, we found Hungry wandering around and looking really down. So I convinced him to follow us to get something to eat, and when we got back to the house, Maturity made snacks for all of us. And when I told him you guys were still out here working, he made more snacks and told me to come back and give them to you!”

“Wait, didn’t Responsibility say Hungry was one of the two hardest ones to find?” Izumi asked.

“Yep, that’s right.” Determined nodded. “Hungry and Nervousness always wander around, since Hungry is always hungry and Nervousness doesn’t feel safe in one spot. But as long as you keep feeding Hungry and manage to assure Nervousness of his safety, they’re pretty tame. Although, if you freak Nervousness out or run out of snacks for Hunger to munch on, they’ll just up and disappear in search of what they require.”

“Then let’s hope Maturity can keep Hunger from leaving the house.” Abe said, passing around the bag of snacks. “Do you sense anyone else nearby?”

“Hmmm…” Determined placed his fingers on his temples and focused for a few moments before spinning around and pointing off in a general direction. “Someone’s off thataway! I just don’t know who or where.”

“Well it’s better than nothing.” Abe said. “Let’s get back to the bikes, guys. We’ve still got a lot more of them to find!”


	4. Chapter 4

Determined happily looked around at the passing people and buildings as the team rode their bikes into town. He and Abe lead the group as he pointed which direction the next Mihashi could be in. Eventually they found a street filled with people with balloons, and it waved a red flag to the entire team. Tajima got off his bike for a moment and went up to a nearby woman with her young son. He held up a picture of Mihashi and asked her if she had seen him. She replied that she had, and that he had headed off down an adjacent street. With that knowledge, Tajima returned to his bike and the team headed off in the direction the woman gave them.

“Which one do you think it is?” Abe asked Determined.

“Probably Happy.” Determined smiled. “He likes balloons. Oh, and if he’s around, then Sad and Angry must be around too!”

“Let’s just focus on one at a time.” Abe said, and rounded the corner into the next street. Sure enough, just about a block away was another Mihashi, smiling like the sun and passing out balloons to everyone he came across.

“That’s him all right!” Determined beamed, hopping off Abe’s bike and sprinting down the street. He didn’t even give as much as a warning before he pounced on Happy, clinging to his back. Happiness managed to keep his balance, and laughter could be heard from the both of them. Abe and the team approached them on their bikes and managed to hear the majority of their conversation.

“Found you!” Determined grinned.

“Yep, you found me!” Happy smiled in return, before his smile fell. “Wait, was I supposed to be hiding?”

“Haha, nope!” Determined laughed. “It’s a different kind of thing. Like everyone’s out and doing their own thing and we gotta find you anyway!”

“Oh, I get it!” Happy’s smile returned and Determined removed himself from the emotion’s shoulders. Happy was holding a massive bouquet of balloons in one hand, but managed to reciprocate the immediate hug he received from Determined.

“So you’re Happy, right?” Sakaeguchi asked when the group pulled up on their bikes.

“That’s right!” Happiness grinned.

“You’re the one giving balloons to everyone?” Nishihiro asked as Happy passed a balloon to a young couple walking by.

“Yep!” Happy said, holding out the bouquet. “Want one?”

“Uh… sure, for my sister.” Nishihiro nodded, taking the yellow balloon that was handed to him. “But where did you get the balloons anyway?”

“From a balloon vendor cart thing.” Happiness answered. “I bought the whole thing cuz I wanted to give them to people and make them happy!”

“You seriously _bought_ the entire bouquet of balloons from the balloon cart?” Tajima asked. “With what money?”

“I found a 5000 yen bill on the ground!” Happy laughed. “It’s my lucky day today!”

“Then would you mind using that luck of yours to help us?” Abe asked. “We need to find the rest of the Mihashis, and we know Anger and Sadness are usually close by to your location. Do you know where they are?”

“Sure I do.” Happy smiled. “Angry’s off down this street somewhere, you guys go find him and I’ll go get Sad for ya!”

“Sounds like a plan, hopefully we can handle him.” Abe nodded, and the team headed down the street to see if they could spot Anger. Happiness skipped off, continuing to pass out the balloons on his little trek to retrieve Sadness.

It wasn’t hard for the team to find Anger, seeing as he was in the middle of a fight on the sidewalk in front of a restaurant. The group dismounted their bikes and Determined was the first to jump into the fray, knocking Anger to the ground. The majority of the team managed to pull away Anger’s opponent and stop the fight, but Anger was still pissed. He quite literally threw Determined off of him and grabbed one of the chairs from the outdoor seating of the restaurant. He threw that as well, and it barely missed Abe. With the catcher not wanting to waste time and _clearly_ not in the mood for messing around, Abe took a firm stance and challenged him.

“What, you wanna go?” Anger growled, and prepared to lunge at him before a shrill voice rang through the air.

“Stop it, stop it, stop it!!” the scream was immediately followed by sobbing, and everyone turned to find three Mihashis: Determined and Happy, neither of whom were smiling, and a sobbing Mihashi, who was obviously Sadness.

“Look what you did, Anger, you made Sad cry!” Happy exclaimed. The Nishiura team looked over to Anger, who had clearly flinched before crossing his arms and staring at the ground. An immediate understanding struck the team. That was how Sadness could control Anger: by _guilt-tripping him_!

“Now stop being such an ass and say you’re sorry!” Determined said, running around behind Anger and pushing him up to a still sobbing Sad. The usually intense emotion was at a severe loss for words over the next few minutes, which the team took by getting any bystanders to move along. It would be a major pain to explain the situation. Eventually though, Anger muttered an apology to Sadness and promised he wouldn’t start anymore fights for the rest of the day, to which Sadness stopped crying and gave him a hug.

“Okay, now that that’s all settled, let’s get you guys back to Mihashi’s house.” Hanai said. “We need to make sure Hunger is still there and that Responsibility is keeping up with his end.”

“Then let’s head back now.” Abe said. “We could eat at Mihashi’s if his parents will let us, then we should head home for the night. As much as I wanted to get all this over with tonight, we still have Nervousness, Love and Hate to find, plus that other one that Responsible didn’t name.”

With that, the team remounted their bikes, the newest three emotions tagging along on the back of a few, and headed back to Mihashi’s house. The sun began to set as they pulled in and parked their bikes out on the front lawn, and they escorted the Mihashis into the house.

“Okay, we should take roll before we call Responsible.” Abe decided to take charge. “First off, is Hunger still here?”

“Yep!” Innocence answered, splayed across Hunger’s lap as he fed the latter pieces of candy.

“Alright, so we have Hunger.” Sakaeguchi decided to make a list of the pieces of Mihashi they had and didn’t have. “And we just brought back Happiness, Sadness and Anger.”

“Mischief is still here too?” Abe called. Maturity nodded from the couch, clearly sitting on the trait in question. “And Fear and Tired haven’t left the rooms upstairs?” Maturity nodded again.

“So then we also have Determined, Maturity and Innocence.” Sakaeguchi said to himself as he wrote. “Let’s call Responsible now and see how he’s doing.”

Abe nodded and took out his cell phone, quickly dialing Mihashi’s number. The voice that answered sounded groggy. Abe immediately figured he was slacking off, but didn’t say anything of it.

“It’s Abe.” He said. “We’re back at the house with three more of them. How’re you holding up on your end?”

“Oh my end’s just fine~” the voice who Abe thought was Responsible cooed. “Can’t find a finer end then mine. But enough about me, how’s _your_ end doing, you hot piece of ass?”

Abe spluttered in embarrassment at such a question. That definitely wasn’t Responsible!

“Wh-Who the hell is this?” he finally asked, only to be met with laughter on the other end of the phone as well as in the room he was standing in.

“Haha, virgins better run cuz Lust is on the line!” Mischief laughed.

_Oh dear god…_


	5. Chapter 5

“C’mon, gimme the phone!” Mischief exclaimed from underneath Maturity’s weight. “Gimme gimme gimme!!”

“No way!” Abe answered, before returning his attention to the phone. “Lust, where’s Responsible?”

“I sure as hell ain’t tellin’ you.” Lust answered. “So be a good boy and pass the phone to Chief, ‘kay babe? Been awhile since I talked to the little darlin'.”

“I’m not giving the phone to Mischief until you tell me where Responsible is!” Abe growled.

“Oh come on!!” Mischief whined. “Lust, just tell ‘im!”

“Little Respo is tied up at the moment.” Lust sighed. “Quite literally, actually, hehe. And that’s all I’m telling you.”

“Who else is with you there?” Abe asked.

“It’s just me, Evil and little Respo.” Lust replied. “Now will you _please_ give Chief the phone? I know you love playing hard to get, babe, but this is a little much.”

Abe was immediately fuming at Lust’s remark, but tossed the phone to Mischief, who was still being sat on by Maturity. The troublesome trait grinned and held the phone up to his ear before bursting out laughing at whatever Lust said on the other end. Abe rubbed his temples with frustration.

“I’ll be damn glad when all this is over.” He grumbled. “But Responsible is with Lust and Evil, so mark them down.”

“So who’s left?” Sakaeguchi asked.

“Love, Hate, Reckless and Nervous.” Happy answered. “And one mystery trait.”

“Do you guys know who that ‘mystery trait’ is?” Hanai asked. The entire group of Mihashis nodded.

“Let me guess, you’re not gonna tell us who it is.” Izumi said, and the group nodded again. With a collective sigh, the Nishiura team each took a seat on the floor, exhausted from that day’s fiasco.

“We should probably plan for tomorrow.” Nishihiro suggested. “Like figure out what to do about each of the ones we’re missing.”

“Can you guys tell us that much?” Mizutani asked. Determined nodded and raised his hand. “Uh… What is it Determined?”

“Reckless is a dangerous one!” Determined said, lowering his arm. “But I can take ‘im down!”

“I thought Reckless was on Responsible’s list of ones to catch.” Tajima said.

“Yeah, but it’s easier if I just go out and get ‘im.” Determined said. “We’re a pair after all.”

“Then what about Love and Hate?” Suyama asked.

“Innocence could easily find Love if he wanted to.” Happy laughed. “In fact, any of us could. But Mischief might be the best to find Hate.”

“And finding Nervous is all about luck.” Hunger said, munching on a cookie. “Like with me, he likes wandering around. Well, he doesn’t exactly _like_ it, but he can’t really help it.”

“Well then, who is Nervous usually paired with?” Oki asked. “Maybe—”

“Won’t work.” Maturity shook his head. “Nervous is paired with Fear, who is better off confined where he is. If anything, you’ll just have to rely on your luck to find him.”

“Yeah, Fear is one of the uncontrollable ones.” Happy nodded. “That is, _when_ he ever gets out of control. Most times he just hides away and stays quiet. But let’s say someone goes up there and pokes him; just that will set him off. He’ll get jittery and jumpy and start panicking. If he escapes his confines because of that, it’ll be hell to try calming him down and getting him back.”

“Then that option’s out of the question.” Abe grumbled. “We’ll just have to get lucky tomorrow.”

The rest of the group agreed and eventually decided to all head home for a good night’s rest. Abe reminded them to keep an eye out for Nervous if any of them found him wandering around and the team left on their bikes.

Once they were out of sight, Maturity got off Mischief to organize sleeping arrangements for the Mihashis that were gathered in the house. Neither of Mihashi’s parents had arrived, but it’d be a problem if they found more than one version of their son laying around the house at two in the morning. He sent the majority of the Mihashis to bed before pulling Mischief off to the side.

“What’s up?” the troublesome trait asked.

“What did you discuss with Lust?” Maturity asked.

“Nothing of importance.” Mischief said, not making eye contact.

“We’ll see about that.” Maturity said, allowing Mischief to leave upstairs, and walked down the hall towards the kitchen, grabbing the cordless phone on his way. He dialed Mihashi’s cell phone number and waited for someone to answer. When he got voicemail, he spoke with a stern tone.

“It’s Maturity. I don’t really care which one of you hears this, but you’re going to listen and you’re going to listen well. I need a record of the locations and statuses of the remaining Mihashis, which are Reckless, Love, Hate and Nervous. I already have the final Mihashi within range of the house. Since apparently none of you are currently doing anything worthwhile, I expect answers within the next few minutes. Don’t make me lose my patience.”

Maturity hung up without another word and set the phone on the table. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he sat down and took a few deep breaths. He had anticipated this entire _problem_ would be solved in a day with how cooperative the others normally were, but with Lust being a more hypersexual imbecile than he usually is, he was losing his patience with everything and everyone. Standing up from his chair, he went to the refrigerator and pulled out a beer. He never had much of a taste for the liquor, but it at least dulled his impatience by 10%, and that was better than nothing.

After a few swigs, the phone finally rang. Maturity answered without a word, and the report was recited by Responsible in a hurried tone. Once he was finished, he sounded out of breath.

“And this is why I told you handling Lust and Evil on your own wasn’t a good idea.” Maturity said. “But you didn’t listen to me, now did you?”

“Oh shut up.” Responsible panted. “Is that all you wanted?”

“No, what was Lust talking to Mischief about earlier?” Maturity asked.

“Something about Abe, I don’t remember.” Responsible answered. “I was literally tied up and hanging upside down, gagged and with the blood rushing to my head, I wasn’t in any position to be remembering anything.”

“Try to get some sleep.” Maturity said. “I’ll call you again in the morning when the team gets here.”

“Okay.” Responsible sighed. “Hey, wait, is he really within range?”

“Of course he is.” Maturity said. “He and Innocence are very good friends, and it’d be stupid to leave him on his own for longer than a day.”

“Then why don’t you just keep him in the house?”

“Because he is who he is.” Maturity quickly downed the last of the beer. “It’s in his nature to remain at a distance, at least the majority of the time.”

“Okay, okay.” Responsibility huffed. “I’ll be waiting for your call.”

“You better be.” Maturity crushed the empty can in his hand before tossing it into the trash can. "You better be."


	6. Chapter 6

When the next morning finally came around, and with Mihashi’s parents still sleeping after arriving home late from work, Maturity woke up Mischief and Determined and brought them outside to meet up with the Nishiura team. Every member of the team was there, except for Tajima, who rode up a few minutes late with a Mihashi on the back of his bike.

“Guys! Check it out, I got Nervous!” the cleanup grinned. “I found him near my house last night!” The Mihashi on the back of the bike trembled slightly once attention was brought to him, and Innocence, having woken up when Maturity did, staggered out of the house half asleep to greet him. Taking Nervous by the hand, he led him into the house without a word, and Sakaeguchi crossed him off the list he brought with him.

“Okay, so here’s the plan.” Maturity said, snapping a dog collar and leash around Mischief’s neck. “Mischief will sniff out Hate while Determined hunts down Reckless. I already have Responsible on the way here with Lust and Evil, though I don’t know when they’ll be getting here.”

“What should we do for Love?” Hanai asked.

“You’ll most likely come across him in the same area as Hate.” Maturity said. “It won’t be that hard to find him. They both leave trails in their wake.”

“Should any of the others come with us as backup?” Izumi asked. “If Hate is anything like Anger, and if Determined is going off on his own, we might need the muscle.”

“If anything, Mischief will handle Hate.” Maturity said, passing the leash to Abe. “And if Love is nearby, he’ll help you guys out too. You just have to get lucky, that’s all. Shouldn’t be a problem for you guys.”

“We better get going then.” Abe said. “It’s Sunday, and Coach wants us at practice later. Let’s not waste time and collect the last of the Mihashis. Got it?”

The team agreed and left Maturity at the house, following Determined’s directions as to where he believed Love and Hate were located. Once they ended up in the shopping district, Determined said that they’d most likely find them there. After the group parked their bikes, the excited trait skipped off to hunt down Reckless. Abe kept a tight grip on Mischief’s leash as they walked down the street.

“Should we split up to cover more ground?” Sakaeguchi suggested.

“I’m just worried if we do that, Hate will overwhelm whichever group he runs into.” Hanai said.

“I have an idea!” Tajima grinned. “If strength is the problem, then we just need one person per group to take on Hate if we run into him! Mischief will be the one for one group, and Hanai can be the one for the second group!”

“Wha—?! Why me?!” Hanai exclaimed.

“C’mon Hanai, you’re the tallest of us,” Tajima said, “and if all the Mihashis are the same size as the real Mihashi, you could just pin him down no problem!”

“We’re talking about Mihashi’s living embodiment of _hatred_ here!” Hanai argued.

“Exactly.” Izumi interrupted. “How strong could he be?”

“He’s got a point there.” Mizutani said. “Mihashi isn’t the strongest of us, that’s for sure.”

“I wouldn’t underestimate Hate if I were you~” Mischief whistled off to the side. “Makes you really think about how much hate Mihashi’s got stowed away in that little head of his.”

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Hanai said. “Don’t just leave it to me to take him on!”

“Then Suyama can help you, sheesh.” Tajima sighed. “For a Captain, you sure can whine.”

Hanai’s face turned red with anger and embarrassment, and was about to reach for the cleanup’s shirt before Sakaeguchi separated them.

“Let’s just divide ourselves into two groups and try finding them.” He said. “And we’ll keep in contact to make sure we’re thorough, okay?”

“…Fine.” Hanai grumbled, and stomped off with Suyama, Izumi, Mizutani and Sakaeguchi in tow. Abe kept Mischief close and headed down a different street with Tajima, Oki, and Nishihiro.

“So where should we start looking?” Tajima asked.

“Maturity said they leave a trail in their wake, so we should probably just look for some sort of consistency.” Abe said. “Like a lot of happy or angry people.”

“Or we could let me loose and I’ll find ‘em for ya.” Mischief suggested, only to get smacked upside the head by Abe. “Ow!”

“Don’t act smart, or there’s more where that came from.” Abe barked, tugging him along as they walked. The troublesome trait puffed his cheeks in defiance as he was lead along, though kept his guard up for any sign of either of the controlling traits they were looking for. 

Eventually, Abe’s group came across a large crowd of people in front of a small store that sold good luck charms and weird stuff like that. Tajima got himself up on Mischief’s shoulders to see what the commotion was about. Sure enough, there was a Mihashi in front of the store, sitting at a table and talking with the crowd one person at a time. Tajima informed the group of their find, and Mischief said to switch places with him. If that Mihashi could stay perfectly calm in a crowd, then it had to be Love, who was naturally open and sociable.

“If I can get his attention, we won’t have to bother with this giant crowd.” The trait said. Tajima nodded and hopped off his shoulders to let him climb on top of him. Abe didn’t let go of the leash once.

When Mischief was able to see over the crowd, he waved his arms wildly in hopes of getting Love’s attention. Sure enough, Love looked up and waved back to his ‘brother’. He stood from the table and the crowd parted to let him through. Mischief leapt off Tajima’s shoulders and into Love’s arms for a big hug.

“I haven’t seen you guys in a while!” Love beamed, before noticing the dog collar. “…What did you do this time?”

“I didn’t do anything!” Mischief exclaimed. “Maturity just put it on me to keep me from running off on my own, which _sucks_!”

“So you’re Love, huh?” Tajima asked, standing beside Mischief.

“Oh, hi Tajima, nice to see you!” Love smiled. “So what’s going on?”

“We’re here to get you back to the house.” Abe said. “We just need to find Hate and we’ll be ready to get the real Mihashi back to normal.”

“Oh…” Love looked over his shoulder to the crowd, who murmured amongst themselves. “Well… I’m kind of busy here…”

“What could you _possibly_ be doing?” Abe asked, already irritated about the waste of time.

“Well, I started giving advice is all.” Love laughed. “And everyone wants to hear what I have to say so…”

“You want to stay to finish up with the crowd?” Nishihiro asked.

“But we should find the others and get back to the house.” Abe insisted.

“I’ll be really quick I promise.” Love begged, clapping his hands together. “I just need a notebook and pen.” A random bystander threw the desired items into his hand before rejoining the crowd. Love uncapped the pen and looked to Abe expectantly.

“Fine.” He sighed. “But make it quick—” Love was gone before Abe could finish speaking, writing on the notebook and tearing the pages into little strips to give to each person in the crowd.

“Is he just giving them random advice?” Oki asked.

“Nah, Love is more pro than that.” Mischief chuckled. “He knows everything about someone’s love life, just by looking at them. Past loves, current crushes, what they want in a lover, and so much more.”

“Wow…” Tajima gasped, as he tried to watch Love zip through the crowd. The massive group of people then began to dwindle away as they received their advice. “If he doesn’t go back to Mihashi, he could make a business outta this.”

“But he’s going back to Mihashi whether he wants to or not.” Abe grumbled, completely done with all this nonsense. He wondered if Hanai’s group was having any luck on their end.


	7. Chapter 7

Up on the second floor of the mall, Hanai and his group were on the trail of Hatred, since they had witnessed several angry and bruised people being led away to the infirmary. Hanai swallowed out of nervousness when he noticed how big the guys that were leaving were. If Hate could take them on, then he’d be no match!

“Don’t look so nervous, Hanai.” Izumi said. “We haven’t even seen him yet.”

“But you’ve seen how big those guys were!” Hanai said. “They’re practically two feet taller than me, and you guys expect me to take Hate on?!”

“I just got a text from Nishihiro.” Sakaeguchi said. “They found Love. So if we find Hate, we can let them know where we are and they’ll bring us some backup.”

Hanai let out a sigh of relief at the sound of that. He really didn’t want to try fighting a part of Mihashi that was that dangerous. But it made him wonder, how on Earth could Mihashi’s physical embodiment of hate be so strong? The guy was as gentle as a newborn kitten; he couldn’t hurt a fly! Then again, there was no telling what was going on in his head at any given time…

“Hey guys, over there!” Izumi pointed ahead of them. There was a large group of people in the middle of the large walkway, some chanting ‘Fight, fight, fight!’ while others were trying to get around them. “That looks like where we’ll find our guy.”

“Text Abe and tell him where we are.” Hanai said to Sakaeguchi. “We’ll need the help.” The second baseman nodded and flipped open his phone, typing quickly. Hopefully they’d get there fast enough that they wouldn’t have to pick a fight with Hate themselves.

“Let’s see if we can get a look at what we’re up against.” Mizutani said, and grabbed a chair from a nearby café, standing up to see if he could see over the crowd.

“I wonder if he’ll be anything like Hate.” Izumi said, looking up to the redhead. “What do you see?”

“It’s like twelve on one.” Mizutani said, before flinching. “Ooh, make that eleven on one. He took that guy out hard.”

“Yeah, we’ll need Love.” Hanai said. “There’s no way you’re pushing me in there.”

“Now make that nine to one.” Mizutani narrated. “This guy’s insane!”

“But it makes you wonder how Hate is so strong.” Suyama said. “Mihashi doesn’t seem like that resentful a guy.”

“It could be anything.” Sakaeguchi said. “And I mean, Mihashi isn’t the most talkative person ever, so he could be hiding a lot of stuff in that head of his.”

“And now it’s down to five against one!” Mizutani said. “This guy just can’t be stopped—!!” Mizutani screamed before ducking off the chair he was on, since another chair was thrown over the crowd and directly at him. Izumi managed to catch him before they hit the floor, and asked if he was hurt. “That was a close one!”

“Then learn to shut up, Crap Left.” An all-too familiar voice parted the crowd and began to walk towards them. Hanai stood his ground as Hate approached, cracking his knuckles and with a dark glare on his face. Sure he was shorter than him due to Mihashi being that size, but Hanai still felt greatly intimidated. “So, _Captain_ , I take it you’re here to drag me off?”

Hanai swallowed out of nervousness now that the situation had taken a turn for the worse. He knew there was no way he could win in a fight with Hate, but he nodded firmly to his question. Hate could probably already tell he was scared, but he couldn’t let his resolve fall in front of the others. The hate-filled trait smirked and was about to say something, when he was slammed across the walkway by a flying projectile that came out of nowhere. Of course, it was obvious that that flying projectile was another Mihashi once the dust cleared, and Determined ran up to them with a smile.

“Yeah, Reckless, you got him!” he beamed. Reckless was a Mihashi that was disheveled and covered in bruises, and pinned Hate down without much trouble, a wide grin plastered on his face. Determined turned to Hanai’s group and saluted. “Reckless and Determined, reporting as backup, sir!”

“Oh thank god.” Hanai felt he was about to faint he had been so scared. “Is there any way we can chill him out so he’ll cooperate?”

“How ‘bout some ice?” Reckless laughed rather maniacally, making the others quite worried for his mental state at the time.

“Let’s leave that for Love.” Determined said. “He’s really good at strategizing a plan to get the negative traits to work with him.”

“Why thank you Determined.” Love smiled as Abe’s group walked up. Determined squealed before giving Love a hug, and the kind trait spun him around. “You’re looking well.” Determined nodded before a large shout came from Hate, and he proceeded to throw Reckless off him. Love sighed.

“Can’t you just _try_ to behave yourself when we’re in public?” he asked, stepping away from Determined and over to where Hate now stood. The two glared each other down and the air grew tense. “Really, you’re such a pain. And you know it inconveniences me to punish you.”

Hate reached out to grab Love’s shirt, before Love’s hand lashed out and landed a solid smack to his left cheek, sending him skidding along the floor. Love didn’t seem very fazed, and once Hate leapt to his feet, the two controlling traits were fighting hand to hand. The Nishiura team was dumbstruck at how violent those two were; they could only imagine what this meant since they were Mihashi’s feelings. Could it mean that his feelings of love and hate were equal? Or that they were in a constant struggle? The majority of the group was confused, but the only one who wasn’t, Sakaeguchi, was on the phone at the moment.

“Yeah, that’d be great…” He said. “I mean, if it isn’t any trouble… Mm-hm, I think it’ll work… Thanks, we’re up on the second floor, you can’t miss us… Alright, see you soon.”

“Who on Earth were you calling at a time like this?” Abe asked.

“I called Maturity for some advice.” The second baseman answered. “We agreed that he should send Responsible over with Lust and Evil.”

“What?!” the team exclaimed. “How is that going to help us?!”

“Lust and Evil would tire Hate out.” Sakaeguchi said. “At least, that’s what Maturity told me.”

“Hmmm, yeah that would work.” Determined said with a nod Reckless clung to his back. “The two of them would jump at the chance to control one of the two commanding traits.”

“But what if they just make the situation worse?” Hanai asked.

“They won’t.” Mischief said. “During something like this, Responsible or Maturity makes a bargain with them to have them cooperate. Once they settle on terms they like, they’ll work with them unless someone else makes a better deal.”

“Then let’s just hope they’ll work with us.” Abe said. “We need to get these guys under control so we can get Mihashi back to normal.”

“Say, do either of you know how Mihashi will get back to normal?” Sakaeguchi asked. Determined nodded.

“It’s pretty simple.” He said. “Once we’re all gathered, we just open up his mind and we enter in a pattern that Responsible dictates.”

“And how would you open up his mind?” Tajima asked. “Like, with surgery?”

“No silly, with a spell that only Responsible knows.” Mischief laughed. “He’s the only one who knows it so none of us can go back in on our own and take over Mihashi’s body. Because that would spell trouble for everyone.”

“Speaking of trouble.” Determined motioned down the walkway with his chin, and the group looked over to find three Mihashi’s approaching them: Responsible, Lust and Evil.


	8. Chapter 8

Responsible looked as he did, like a normal Mihashi. If it hadn’t been for his knowledge on the whole debacle, he could’ve fooled everyone that he was the real Mihashi, though his attitude would’ve tipped everyone off. It was the other two that accompanied him that raised the team’s eyebrows.

Evil was in a normal set of T-shirt and jeans, but wore a leather jacket and sunglasses. As they came closer, a set of five piercings on his ears became visible. Upon removing his sunglasses, it was found that he had a glare that matched Hate’s, but his seemed more teasing that fear-inducing.

And Lust was something else. In a white crop top that exposed his pierced navel, he wore a dark pink fur-lined trench coat that reached the floor, tight skinny jeans and _heels_. If anything, he pretty much looked like a stripper. Which would make sense since he was the physical embodiment of Mihashi’s lust. The group was just surprised by how flamboyant he looked.

As the group walked up to them, they didn’t say a word as they looked over the situation. Lust and Evil matched glances and nodded in unison before they tossed off their jackets and jumped into the fray between Love and Hate. Evil hooked his arms underneath Hate’s and pulled him down onto the floor. Hate was loudly cussing and kicking like a child having a tantrum. Lust simply put a hand on Love’s chest and the commanding trait put his fists down. Love looked him over before raising an eyebrow.

“New shirt?” he asked.

“Got a guy to buy it for me.” Lust smirked.

“Not before he bought you a few drinks?” Love asked. Lust nodded and gave him a smile. Love rolled his eyes and allowed Lust to join Evil in their process to tire out Hate. Evil was struggling to keep his commanding trait down, but once Lust climbed on top of Hate, the raging trait froze in embarrassment.

“Well that was easy.” Determined said with Reckless now sitting on his shoulders.

“Virgins better look away, Lust is workin’ his magic.” Mischief chuckled.

“Just give them a few minutes.” Responsible said, stepping forward to block what Lust and Evil were doing. “Then we can leave for the hospital.”

“What about the others?” Sakaeguchi asked.

“Maturity is already moving them there.” Responsible said. “Fear and Nervousness are cooperating better than normal this time around, so we’re taking advantage of it.”

“That’s great!” Sakaeguchi said. “We should all get them to the hospital and get Mihashi back to normal.”

“Finally.” Abe said. “This has gone on long enough.”

“You two done?” Responsible called over his shoulder to Evil and Lust. Evil didn’t look too amused as Lust continued to fondle Hate while on top of him, and tapped Lust’s head in question. Lust looked up and the two muttered amongst themselves before Lust got off him and allowed Evil to pick up a now limp Hate.

“Better get going now, before he regains his senses.” Lust informed the group. “My charms can only sedate him for so long.”

“What’d you do to him?” Tajima asked. Lust gave him a smirk before tossing his coat over his shoulder.

“Ask again and I’ll show you.” He winked, before promptly getting a boot to the head by Evil. “Ow! What the hell was that for?!”

“You’re a little late to try hooking up.” Evil said. “Wasn’t that guy who bought you your shirt enough?”

“Hey, it’s not every day I’m unleashed onto the world.” Lust chuckled. “I’d like to leave my mark when I can.”

“Well hopefully after this, you don’t be unleashed again.” Love said, pulling him along by the arm. “Now come on and behave yourself. It’s time to go home. You can have fun with Evil when we get back.”

“But I _always_ have fun with Evil.” Lust whined. “I do get tired of the same hot rod all the time you know!”

“Quiet down Lust, we have virgins present.” Mischief chuckled, looking over to the Nishiura team, and flinched when Abe’s glare fell on him. “N-Not that there’s anything wrong with saving yourself for someone special.”

“That’s more like it.” Abe said. “Now let’s head for the hospital.”

The trip didn’t take that long since the Nishiura team could each tote a trait on the back of their bikes. However, once they arrived at the hospital, Happy was waiting for them with a worried look on his face. When the group approached him, he explained the situation as best he could, before Abe finally reacted.

_“What do you mean Fear is missing?!”_


	9. Chapter 9

“He just got spooked!” Happy explained, hoping the catcher wouldn’t attempt to strangle him. “Nervous and Innocent are out looking for him. Maturity told me to wait for you guys out here and lead you in to where the others are staying for now.”

“Fine, then lead us to them.” Abe said, grumbling to himself. “I can’t believe this… And here I thought all of this was finally over and done with!”

“Guess we’re not so lucky after all.” Sakaeguchi said.

“I’m pretty sure your luck still stands.” Happy said. “It was our fault that we lost Fear, after all.”

“Do you know what happened that spooked him?” Hanai asked.

“It might’ve been the hospital setting.” Happy answered. “But then again, any little thing could set him off. In fact, I’m surprised he actually got this far before he reacted. Goes to show you how Nervous can handle him despite his condition.” The emotion shrugged. “Guess some people are just made for each other.”

“You said Nervous and Innocent were both out looking for him.” Tajima said. “But isn’t Fear the strongest Mihashi? Shouldn’t we all be looking for him?”

“Innocent may seem adorable and naïve, but he’s pretty sharp.” Happy said, leading them to a conference room. “And he’s handled Fear in Nervous’s absence before, so the two of them are best for the job. They’re quiet, so I’m sure they’ll have no problem communicating with a frazzled Fear.”

The emotion opened the door and led the team in. The rest of the Mihashis were all sitting at the long table, some with grave expressions on their faces, others muttering to each other. All eyes were on the Nishiura team once they entered. A few of the traits backed up to the far wall.

“So… are we all okay here?” Mischief asked cautiously. “No… murderous intents are in here?”

“If you’re talking about Abe, he’s frustrated but not mad.” Happy said, looking to the catcher but taking a safe step away from him. “Right, Abe?”

‘ _Guess the fear of Abe still stands, even in all the Mihashis_.’ Hanai thought. ‘ _Er… maybe not all of them._ ’

“I would’ve rather we get everything over with instead of prolonging this issue any further.” Abe answered. “But we can’t help it if Fear managed to get away. Now we can only hope that Innocent and Nervous come through and bring him back here.”

“In the meantime, could someone explain how you guys are all gonna get back in Mihashi’s head?” Tajima asked.

“I already told you.” Mischief said. “Responsible has the spell that helps us go back into his head. Problem is, it’d be bad news for only some of us to go in without others. It’s like an all or nothing kind of thing.”

“Then we _have_ to find Fear…” Sakaeguchi said. “How will Innocent and Nervous handle him? I mean, Maturity said he was hostile.”

“I may have exaggerated a little.” Maturity said. “But it’s true that Fear is the strongest out of all of us. If we were to all go at him, he could take us out in just a few seconds really.”

“Then how will Innocent and Nervous catch him?” Nishihiro asked. “They sound like they’re not very strong on their own.”

“Innocent has no ill intention.” Maturity said. “Even if he tries to, his heart remains pure. Fear will not sense any danger from him, which allows Innocent to get close and talk to him. Nervous is his natural match. Just this fact means that they have a connection, despite their similar behaviors. They find companionship and reliability with one another, so he’ll open up to Nervous without much hesitation. So that’s why they’re the best for the job.”

“So once they find him, things’ll be okay?” Suyama asked.

“Pretty much.” Happy smiled.

“The only way things could go wrong would be if Fear ran into someone Mihashi knows.” Mischief said, helping himself to the snacks they bought to tide Hunger over. He laughed. “But what’re the chances of that?”

“…You know you just fucking jinxed us.” Evil said, giving him a smack on the head.

“I did not!” Mischief tried to argue, but a glare from a now conscious Hate shut him up.

“What would happen if Fear ran into someone Mihashi knows?” Tajima asked.

“One of two things will happen.” Maturity said. “He’ll either freeze up, or he’ll go into a full throttle panic and possibly destroy anything in the way of his escape.”

“Then we better hope Fear doesn’t run into anyone.” Sakaeguchi said. “Or if we does, hope that he just freezes up and doesn’t cause any damage.”

“The chances of Fear running into anyone he knows are pretty slim.” Abe said. “Mihashi isn’t exactly a social butterfly, who in this area could he possibly know?”

[Meanwhile]

“Any luck?” Innocent asked, once he met up with Nervous near the hospital entrance. The jittery trait shook his head. “Where could he be? I know he’s in this area, I can feel it…”

“…Shuu…” Nervous tugged on Innocent’s sleeve feverishly, before the childish trait turned to spot Kanou walking up the street towards the hospital holding a bouquet of flowers.

“Quick! Hide!” he whispered, and the two dove behind the corner of the building. As they waited for Kanou to make his way inside, they noticed rustling coming from the nearby bushes. From their position, they could easily see Fear, trying to control his breathing as he wandered rather calmly through the trees. ‘ _Oh no! Oh please oh please don’t see him…!_ ’

“Mihashi?” Kanou had easily spotted the Mihashi-lookalike through the trees, and the frightened trait flinched visibly, before falling behind the bushes.

Kanou at first wasn’t sure if he had really seen Mihashi behind the trees, but decided to go investigate, despite Innocent’s mental pleas for him to go away. Mihoshi’s pitcher looked behind the tree line near the entrance to the hospital to find who he believed to be his old friend cowering behind the bushes. “Mihashi, what’re you doing out here? I thought you were still hurt…”

Fear didn’t respond to Kanou’s question, choosing to keep his head down and his knees to his chest. The pitcher noticed how he was shaking violently. None the wiser, he reached out and placed a hand on Fear’s shoulder.


	10. Chapter 10

“…I have the feeling I’m forgetting something.” Responsible muttered to himself as the group waited in the conference room.

“They say if you forget something, it must not be important.” Tajima said.

“No, no, I know there’s something important I’m forgetting…” the leading trait said. “But I can’t remember what it is! Argh, once I remember I’m sure I’m going to hate myself for forgetting!”

“Don’t bother trying to ask us for help.” Mischief said. “If _you_ don’t remember, there’s no way in hell we will.”

“Wait, why is that?” Mizutani asked. “You’re all Mihashis, right?”

“While that’s true, I’m the one in charge of memory.” Responsible said. “We all have parts of Mihashi we deal with. For example, Tired handles Mihashi’s dreams and sleep cycles.”

“That’s so cool!” Tajima said. “What does Lust do then?”

“I handle Mihashi’s sex drive.” Lust grinned. “Plus I pop in the occasional wet dream or out-of-left-field graphic image.”

“If that’s the case, then I guess Hate, Evil and Mischief don’t do much?” Izumi asked.

“I lend a hand with an occasional nightmare.” Evil said. “While Hate contributes to Determined’s physical control over Mihashi. Mischief just screws around most of the time, though sometimes he acts as the devil of Mihashi’s conscience. I’m not allowed in that position.”

“Wait, you said physical control?” Sakaeguchi asked. “What do you mean?”

“That means that I control Mihashi’s body.” Determined answered. “Like when he pitches and stuff, that’s all me! Hate just contributes some strength when I get worn out.”

“That actually makes some sense.” Izumi said. “When Mihashi gets tired during a game, he can still pitch with no problem. If Hate provides the strength when Determined gets tired, that would explain how Mihashi’s able to keep going.”

“Though I never would’ve guessed it’d be Hate giving him that strength.” Abe said.

“Well who else would be strong enough to do it?” Mischief asked. “Fear has his own confines, Evil is only allowed to help with nightmares and Lust handles his hoes. Hate’s the only one in the super strong bracket that has some free time.”

“…Handles his hoes?” Hanai repeated cautiously. “Do I even want to ask what that means?”

“It means what it means.” Lust grinned. “I organize and handle Mihashi’s fantasies and whatnot. They all have their own physical forms and live in my own personal abode.”

“Physical forms?” Mizutani asked. “You mean like you guys?”

“Sort of.” Lust said. “But my little darlings aren’t exactly part of Mihashi’s personality, if they were, they’d just be a bunch of mini me’s. I’m the main one, so I sort of represent all of them.”

“Whoa…” Tajima gaped. “All this is just so cool! Say, what do you think goes on in my head?”

“It’s different for everyone.” Responsibility said. “Since not all people are the same. For example, your strongest trait could be completely different from Mihashi’s. Not only that, your versions of the basic emotions like Happy, Sad and Anger might all behave differently.”

“Yeah, but even though each person’s traits behave differently from one another’s,” Maturity added, “everyone has common traits: Happy, Sad, Anger, Tired, Hunger, Love, Lust, Hate, Fear, Responsibility, Maturity and Innocence. Each of those tend to be different from person to person, but those are their general titles.”

“So like, my version of Happy could be different from Abe’s?” Izumi asked.

“That’s right.” Maturity said. “And of course there are others that are individualistic to each person as well. Take Determined for example. Not everyone is as determined as Mihashi when it comes to pitching, so his determination took form as a major part of his personality.”

“Of course, Reckless came around alongside me.” Determined said. “Because Mihashi tends to push himself too far sometimes, and that can be considered reckless and dangerous to his health, y’know?”

“And then Fear brought Nervous after a while.” Evil said. “Which was initially surprising to the rest of us, but it made sense seeing as Mihashi wasn’t as scared of you guys as he was of the guys at Mihoshi.”

“He was scared?” Tajima repeated.

“Well, he was more afraid of their resentment towards him than the guys themselves.” Determined said. “So then Nervous came along since Mihashi was still unsure about how you guys felt about him. Like, he’s always worried you guys would end up hating him if he didn’t pitch well and stuff.”

“We’ve told him a billion times that that would never happen.” Abe grumbled. “But the guy just never believes us, does he?”

“It’s not that.” Mischief said. “It’s more of a perpetuated anxiety. Anxieties just don’t go away at the drop of a hat, and his has been eating at him for a while now.”

“That’s why we always try to keep Fear in check.” Responsible said. “He tends to self-destruct at even the slightest things. Which is also one of the reasons Hate, Evil and Mischief aren’t allowed anywhere near him.”

“Why is that…?” Izumi said, before realizing that that was probably a stupid question to ask.

“I was born of self-hate.” Hate answered after a brief pause. “That’s all there is to it. If Fear and I are within the same proximities of one another, I tend to have a negative effect of him. To put it bluntly, I can worsen his condition, even if I don’t say a word to him.”

_Self-hate_ …

“Love and Hate are two traits that a person is born with, and they’re usually equal in strength.” Evil said. “But back when Hate began to gain more power in comparison to Love, Mischief and I were brought into play as his underlings. Mischief played the role of the devil of Mihashi’s conscience while it was my job to screw with him in his head. In short, I was born of his anxieties. And I’ll admit, maybe I was a little _too_ good at my job. I honestly don’t care what you think about it, but during Hate’s reign back then, Mihashi’s head wasn’t very pretty. And because of what Mischief and I were assigned to do, we too tend to get Fear upset more often than not.”

_Anxieties_ …

“ _But_!” Mischief hopped out of his chair and banged his hands on the table, snapping everyone out of the gloomy air. “Once Mihashi met you guys, things started to get better! Nervous could calm Fear without much trouble, and they confided in one another all the time! Happy and Determined got way stronger! Then eventually Love and Hate got on the same range of strength again! In fact, our home has gotten to be a lot brighter, it’s not nearly as dark and weighted as it was back when Mihashi was at Mihoshi!”

“So we…” the Nishiura team was a little taken aback at the news, and barely got a response out before the door burst open and three figures stormed in.

“I don’t know what to do somebody tell me what to doooo!!” Innocent exclaimed, carrying a clearly unconscious Kanou on his back. Nervous was right back them, carrying the flowers that were intended to be for Mihashi.

“Ah hell…” Responsible smacked his forehead. “He didn’t…”

“Did he talk to Fear at all?” Determined asked, approaching Innocent to take the unconscious pitcher from his back. Innocent nodded before hanging his head in shame.

“I’m sorry…” he said. “We saw him walking to the hospital right when we spotted Fear, and we were hoping so bad that he wouldn’t see him, but he saw him…”

“What happened to Fear then?” Maturity asked. “Tell me everything that happened.”

[Flashback]

_It was only one touch as far as we saw. On the shoulder, nothing else._

“Mihashi, what’re you doing out here? I thought you were still hurt…” None the wiser, he reached out and placed a hand on Fear’s shoulder.

_Thankfully, Fear just froze up, and didn’t answer him at all. We were seriously scared that he’d end up lashing out at Kanou and hurting him!_

“…Ren?” Kanou called out again, a little louder than before. “C’mon, Ren, answer me.”

_But after a minute, we came up with a brilliant plan to get him away from Fear!_

“Hi-yah!” Innocent leapt from his hiding spot, and chopped the back of Kanou’s head, knocking out the pitcher quickly. He then pulled him away from the tree line where Fear had been hiding, and Nervous went to go check on his match.

_Unfortunately, Fear disappeared again…_

“Let’s just get Kanou inside, before someone sees us.” Innocent said, and the two retreated into the hospital with Kanou on Innocent’s back.

[End Flashback]

“So you knocked him out immediately.” Maturity summarized. “And Fear got away.”

The two traits nodded in apology, and Maturity patted both of their heads.

“You did the right thing, I’m not mad.” He said. “But we need to think of a plan for when Kanou wakes up.”

“Don’t worry, Machu.” Lust grinned, patting Maturity on the shoulder. “You can leave it _aaaaall_ to me. Just a peck of my magic and he won’t know a thing.”

“I don’t know if leaving an unconscious boy in your hands would be wise.” Maturity said.

“C’mon Machu, all I’m gonna do is keep him sleeping.” Lust pouted. “Besides, Miha’s love-hate relationship with Kanou ended way back.”

“Fine.” Maturity sighed. “But you only get to do your spell _once_. Any more commands or additions will result in consequences you know you don’t want.”

“Yes sir.” Lust rolled his eyes.

“Alright, now that that’s handled, why don’t you two try to find…” Maturity’s sentence faded out as each Mihashi turned towards the door. The entire room grew silent, before a couple of them glanced around.

“It couldn’t… could it?” Happy muttered, before Nervous sprung to action and ran straight for the door. Tearing it open, he came face to face with another Mihashi: Fear. The normally jittery trait let out an uncharacteristically happy squeal, before throwing his arms around his matching trait and covering his face in ecstatic kisses. Even the easily frightened trait showed a smile; he was surprisingly calm at this point.

“Wait a second…” Hanai said, failing to notice a final Mihashi peeking into the doorway from out in the hall. “If we were all in here together, then who—”

“Dammit!” Responsibility shouted, jumping from his chair. “I’m such an idiot! How could I forget Shy?!”


	11. Chapter 11

“Who?” Abe asked.

“Shy.” Love repeated, walking to the door. “Shy, dear, come here.”

Once close enough to the door, the final Mihashi slipped into the room and clung to the kind trait. He only slightly peeked his face out to look at the others, but promptly returned his face to Love’s shoulder.

“I’m glad you’ve brought Fear back.” Love said. “Thank you.”

Shy mumbled something the others couldn’t hear, so Love relayed the information.

“Looks like Shy was hiding outside when he saw Kanou trying to talk to Fear.” He said. “And once Innocent knocked him out, he got Fear out of there to calm him down.”

“Oh, so _that’s_ why Fear disappeared!” Innocent said. He stepped up behind Love and leaned on the shoulder that Shy was hiding in. “You know you could’ve just told me.” Shy whimpered slightly and Innocent smiled. “But now everything’s good! Now we can go home!”

“Uh guys?” Determined got everyone’s attention. “I think Kanou’s waking up…”

“Put ‘im down.” Lust said. “Everyone out, I’ll handle him.” Determined complied and sat Kanou down in one of the chairs at the table.

“Remember what I said.” Maturity warned, shooing everyone out of the room. “ _One_.”

“I know, I know.” Lust rolled his eyes. “And I’ll be quick about it.”

Once the door closed, Lust took off his jacket and tossed it onto one of the other chairs. Kanou began to move, raising an arm to rub his eyes before blinking them open. Lust didn’t give Kanou a chance to ask what was going on before placing his lips on his.

“You know, I think I have to agree with Lust.” Mischief said as the group walked down the hall. “He probably is the best person to pick to handle Kanou.”

“What do you mean?” Tajima asked. “Isn’t Lust just going to knock him out?”

“Yeah, but it’s more than just that.” Determined said. “Lust has a special ability he can use in the real world. We all have one.”

“Really?” Hanai asked. “Does that mean you’ve been out of Mihashi’s head before?”

“No, we just know from the beginning.” Determined answered.

“Yeah, and Lust’s ability is pretty sweet.” Mischief grinned. “He can use some sort of mind-control, as long as he kisses someone. On the lips, of course.”

“Are you for real?” Izumi asked. “Well, I guess that does suit him, he is lust after all.”

“It’s so cool, he can even give you commands for when he’s not around.” Mischief said. “As long as he kisses you, he can control you!”

“But he can only do one command per kiss,” Maturity said, “which is why I limited him to one.”

“Do you really think that Lust is going to listen to you?” Evil asked.

“If he doesn’t, he knows what will happen.” Maturity said, rather darkly. “And I have my ways of finding out.”

The rest of the Mihashi’s visibly shuddered at Maturity’s words. Guess Maturity had his own strengths like the rest of them.

“What we’ll focus on now is getting back home.” Responsible said, coming to the outside of Mihashi’s door. “Alright, guys, get in your groups. Let’s make this quick.”

The group of Mihashi’s then separated into their designated pairs and groups of three: Happiness hugged Sadness while Anger held his hand; Mischief, Hate and Evil stood together; Nervous held onto Fear; Reckless sat happily on Determined’s shoulders; Hungry carried Tired; and Maturity put a hand on Innocence’s head. Love and Shy waited a short ways down the hall, watching for Lust when he joined them.

“Lust shouldn’t take long, so we’ll start without him.” Responsible said. “You Nishiura guys might want to stand back. We wouldn’t want any of your ending up in Mihashi’s head by accident. We’ve already had a big enough debacle as it is.”

The Nishiura team nodded and took a few steps back. Responsibility turned towards the door and put his hands on it, focusing until the outer edges began to glow blue. He turned the handle and opened the door to what looked like a flaming portal. “Portal’s open. Basics, you’re up first.”

“Right!” Happiness chimed, leading Sadness by the hand. He stopped in front of the door and waved to the team. “Bye guys, nice seeing ya!” The other two emotions made their own motions to say goodbye to the team, before walking through the door and disappearing. Hunger said something that couldn’t be heard through his full mouth before he followed suit with Tired on his back.

“Rest of the pairs are next.” Responsible said. Nervous led Fear rather slowly, and waved goodbye has the others had, before Reckless shouted his goodbyes and startled Fear into the portal, dragging Nervous along with him. Determined threw Reckless through the door before following suit, saying he couldn’t wait to visit again. Maturity and Innocence were the final pair to enter, and while Innocence waved goodbye with a kind smile on his face, Maturity gave an ‘I’m watching you’ sign, which the team quickly noticed was for Lust, who had just ran up.

Once Maturity and Innocence were gone, Responsibility called up Hate’s team. Mischief ran up to Tajima and gave him a high five while the other two headed for the portal. As he ran up to join them, the other two’s goodbyes were a synchronized ‘fuck you’, and Mischief laughed as they vanished.

“Now Love’s team.” Responsible said. “Finally this is all over with.”

Before the group stepped towards the portal, each one ran back one after the other directly to Abe. Shy delivered a peck on the cheek before sprinting into the portal covering his face with his hands. Love did the same on the other cheek, though smiled before heading for the portal. But he came back to pry Lust to Abe as the trait kissed the catcher roughly on the lips. Love dragged Lust away by his jacket, and Lust gave Abe the ‘call me’ sign before being thrown into the portal. Love waved goodbye before disappearing as well.

Abe was more than surprised with their actions, that he didn’t fully react until they were gone. Turning a bright shade of red, he was about to ask Responsible what the hell that was about, but the trait just chuckled.

“Shouldn’t be that hard to figure out, Abe.” He said. “Bye guys. Give us about ten minutes, then you can come in.”

Stepping through the door, Responsible closed it behind him, and the hall fell to silence. That is, until Tajima pointed out that Abe was blushing a dark red, and proceeded to tease him. The catcher grumbled that he didn’t understand why those three did that, but Tajima stopped laughing long enough to give him a straightforward answer.

“I’m pretty sure that’s saying that Mihashi likes you.” He said, before buckling back into laughter. “You should see your face!”

“Shut up!” Abe shouted, putting the cleanup hitter into a headlock.

“Come on, guys, chill.” Sakaeguchi said. “We can talk about that later, let’s just wait the ten minutes we have to and check on Mihashi, ok?”

The catcher sighed before reluctantly releasing Tajima from his grip and letting him fall onto the floor.

“What do you think is going on in there?” Nishihiro asked.

“Probably some magical mumbo jumbo or something.” Abe said. “I don’t know.”

“Say… do you think Mihashi’s going to have any memory of what happened over the past couple days?” Hanai asked.

“Oh I sure hope so!” Tajima exclaimed. “His reaction would be hilarious!” Abe proceeded to step on the cleanup’s head, keeping it to the floor, before the team noticed Kanou walking up the hallway.

“Hey.” He said, carrying the flowers that were for Mihashi. “What’s everyone doing out here, is Mihashi still asleep or something?”

“Uh, yeah, we think so.” Izumi said. “We’re just waiting a little bit before we go in.”

“Oh, then would you guys mind if I went in first?” the Mihoshi pitcher asked. “I’m pretty sure there’s a vase in there, and I don’t want these to wilt.”

“Sure, go ahead.” Izumi said, though wasn’t sure if he should make Kanou wait to go in. Responsible had told them ten minutes, would anything happen if they went in before that?

As Kanou walked past the Nishiura team to the door, they decided to just let Kanou go in and find out if anything would happen.


	12. Chapter 12

Kanou closed the door behind him as he stepped into the hospital room. Everything was quiet, save for the soft snoring coming from his old friend. Just as he thought, there was a vase half-filled with water perched on the nightstand beside the bed, and he tucked the bouquet of flowers into the clear water. He wondered how long they’d last.

“Mmn…” Mihashi turned over in bed and Kanou looked over to him. He felt considerably uneasy at the moment, since he couldn’t remember walking into the hospital just a few minutes earlier. He remembered walking up the path, then the next thing he remembered was sitting in a chair in one of the empty conference rooms. What was he doing in there? And why? At first he figured he’d just ignore it but it was way too weird to just forget about. And for some reason…

“Did you have anything to do with it?” he asked aloud to the unconscious Mihashi. Kanou shook his head. That’s ridiculous, Mihashi has been asleep for a long time, there’s no way he’d have anything to do with that black out of his.

“…Hm?” Mihashi opened his eyes and looked up to his old friend. “Shuu…”

“Oh, you’re awake.” Kanou said, taking the seat beside Mihashi’s bed. “How are you feeling?”

“I have a bit of a… headache.” Mihashi mumbled, sitting up. “How long have you been here? You could’ve woken me up.”

“I just got here, don’t worry about it.” Kanou smiled. “Your team is still outside though, they didn’t want to wake you.”

“They can come in.” Mihashi said. “I’m awake now.”

“Alright, I’ll go get them then.” Kanou said, and got up to leave the room. The moment he stepped out the door, Mihashi felt a slight shiver, before feeling wide awake. His traits had finished settling, and he was now functioning as he was before this all happened.

“Hey Mihashi.” Tajima said, leading the group as they filed in. “You doing okay?”

“Yep.” Mihashi nodded. “I’m awake now, and I’m feeling pretty good. Actually, I feel better than good, I feel great! I don’t remember what happened at the game though, did we win?”

“Hell yeah we won!” Tajima grinned, relieved their pitcher was back to normal.

“Define feeling ‘great’.” Abe said. Mihashi flinched before taking a second to think.

“Ah, um…” he mumbled. “Like… like…”

“Like you could run a marathon?” Tajima suggested. “Or like you could eat four bowls of udon? Or like you could punch someone in the face for the hell of it?”

“Uh, yeah!” Mihashi said. “W-Well, maybe not the punching part… But I feel great like that!”

“Must be because you got so much sleep.” Izumi said, trying to hint to the team that they shouldn’t talk about what went down over the past couple days. “You must’ve been really tired after the game, you’ve been out for two days.”

“T-Two days?!” Mihashi squeaked. That means he missed practice!

“Don’t worry about if you missed practice or not.” Abe said, not necessarily reading his mind, but his facial expression had given away his worry. “Coach let us have those couple days off while you rested up. But she wants us at practice tonight, you up for it?”

“Y-Yeah!” Mihashi said.

“I’ll go get the doctor.” Hanai said. “Discharging him shouldn’t take very long.”

“I’ll go with you.” Sakaeguchi followed close behind.

“Doctor…?” Mihashi asked.

“You haven’t realized you’re in a hospital?” Kanou asked. Mihashi jerked his head around the room, just now realizing that he was indeed in a hospital, and laying in a hospital bed.

“Why…?”

“You fainted after the game.” Izumi said. “So we brought you here just in case something was wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong!” Mihashi whimpered. “I-Is there?”

“You got hit in the head with a ball.” Tajima said. “I mean, you looked okay for a second, then you passed out, so we were worried.”

“I feel fine…” Mihashi muttered.

“That’s good then.” The cleanup grinned. “I’m sure the doctor’ll let you out, but he might want to give you a checkup first.”

“O…Okay.” Mihashi mumbled.

“Do you think he’s back to normal?” Oki whispered to Nishihiro.

“Looks like it to me.” Nishihiro answered. “He doesn’t seem to remember anything that’s happened over the past couple days, though.”

“That’s probably a good thing.” Suyama said. “Those guys did do some crazy stuff.”

“It’s probably best that we don’t mention it at all.” Izumi cut in. “Let’s just pretend nothing happened.”

The three nodded as Hanai returned with Sakaeguchi and a doctor in tow. The group was asked to leave while the doctor did his mandatory evaluation, but Abe insisted on staying. If anything had changed with Mihashi’s weight or anything else, he had to know immediately. The doctor permitted him.

“It’s a good thing he’s doing better.” Kanou said, to no one in particular. “When Ruri called me to tell me he had been hit, I was a little worried.”

“We all were.” Sakaeguchi said. “But now that he’s back to normal, there’s nothing to worry about anymore.”

The group waited in silence for the doctor to finish giving Mihashi a final checkup, and Kanou brought a hand to his mouth in thought. That blackout of his was still bugging him, but he didn’t think to mention it to the Nishiura team. It was probably nothing. Maybe he just wasn’t paying attention.

Once the doctor exited the room, Abe told the guys they had to wait for Mihashi’s mom to come by and sign him out, since he couldn’t do it himself. The team decided to grab some food while they waited, but Kanou chose to stay with Mihashi for the while; they’d bring him something.

The two sat mainly in silence as they waited for time to go by faster than it does, Kanou’s thoughts still focusing on the blackout he had. Something told him that Mihashi had something to do with it, but what sense would that make? Mihashi was out cold for the past couple days, how could he have possibly anything to do with the random blackout? Kanou was close to giving himself a headache with thinking about it so much, and Mihashi noticed his frustrated expression.

“Um… Shuu?” he asked, bringing Kanou’s attention to him.

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay?” Mihashi asked carefully.

“Oh yeah, I’m fine.” Kanou said. “Why?”

“Well uh… your face is kinda…” Mihashi didn’t know how to describe Kanou’s expression. Scary? Frustrated? “Is… Is there something on your mind?”

“Something… Not really.” Kanou mentally kicked himself for making Mihashi worry about him. “Well…”

Mihashi leaned forward with his usual diamond mouth expression, curious as to if he could help his friend with whatever was on his mind.

“To be perfectly honest with you,” Kanou sighed, “I don’t remember coming in here.”

“Wha…?” Mihashi cocked his head to one side.

“Like, I don’t remember walking into the hospital.” Kanou elaborated. “I remember walking up the path, then the next thing I remember is sitting in an empty conference room. I don’t know if there’s something wrong with me, but I guess I must’ve just blacked out, y’know?”

Mihashi nodded in response, though he really didn’t understand what Kanou was talking about. Blacking out? Does that happen to people? Mihashi began to think about it while Kanou returned to thinking about it, and when the team returned with lunch, they found the two dazed off in thought.

“Hey! Food’s here!” Tajima shouted to get their attention. Kanou flinched and Mihashi beamed with gratitude to his fellow teammate. The two accepted the food the team brought back, and they all began to talk as they waited for Mihashi’s mother to arrive. Once she did, Kanou took that chance to say goodbye and head for the train station. It would be over an hour’s trip back home, so he figured not to wait until too late. Besides, the team had practice, and Coach Momoe wouldn’t be too pleased if they were late.

As the team headed for the field, Mihashi walked beside Tajima and waited for a pause in the cleanup’s banter before posing a question.

“Tajima, is it possible for someone to ‘black out’?” he asked. “Just like, randomly?”

“What, you mean like falling asleep?” Tajima asked.

“I don’t… think so?” Mihashi thought about it for a second. “It’s kind of like, you’re doing one thing, then the next thing you remember is doing something completely different then what you planned on doing.”

“Hm, I don’t think that happens a lot, but I guess it could.” Tajima answered. “I mean, if we were talking about random sleeping that’d be called narcolepsy… Why do you ask?”

“Cause Shuu, I mean Kanou, said that happened to him today.” Mihashi answered. The entire team except for Tajima flinched with the realization that that was only because Innocence knocked him out so he wouldn’t find more than one Mihashi running around! “And I was wondering if that was normal.”

“Maybe he was just knocked out.” Tajima suggested. “Like someone came up behind him and WHAM! instant knock out.” Mihashi’s face paled and he scrambled for his phone. As he began to text Kanou, Izumi and Hanai pulled the cleanup away and whisper-scolded him for even indirectly mentioning that something went down while Mihashi’s traits were running amok. Abe distracted Mihashi by asking him if his wrist hurt at all, and the pitcher put away his phone to show his catcher that it was okay. And the rest of the team helped in keeping the pitcher from texting Kanou, since if he remembered being knocked out, that might trigger a memory that would take hell of a long time to explain. However, once Mihashi was in bed and falling asleep, he remembered to send the text to Kanou.

_About your black out: does your head hurt? Tajima said you might’ve blacked out because someone knocked you out. It could’ve been an accident or something, you know?_

And as the pitcher drifted off to sleep, his phone buzzed lightly beside his pillow, but was unsuccessful in waking him up.

_Actually, yeah. The back of my head hurts pretty bad when I put pressure on it._

FIN


End file.
